• Creator Names Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago.
  • Title Chicago Boys and Girls Club records [manuscript], 1901-1969, bulk 1940-1967.
  • Physical description
    • 98.75 linear ft.
    • 1 oversize folder.
    • sound discs : analog.
  • Access and usage restrictions For listening purposes, it is necessary to use a copy, not the original (and to have a listening copy made if one is not available).
  • Collection summary
    • This description does not include unprocessed additions to the collection.
    • Correspondence, minutes, memoranda, reports, announcements, maps, surveys, financial records, phonograph records, newsclippings, and other administrative files of the Chicago Boys and Girls Club's central office, primarily relative to fundraising, policy making, expansion and equipping of the neighborhood Boys and Girls Clubs, and coordination of their activities. Topics include recreation and team and individual sports; camping at Camp Lucerne and Winona Lake Camp in Indiana and Kemah-Crane Camp in Wisconsin; juvenile delinquency, gangs, social group work; race relations; cooperation with other social service organizations, particularly the YMCA, the Chicago Area Project (1930s), and the Chicago Council of Social Agencies (later the Welfare Council of Metropolitan Chicago); neighborhood needs assessments, and in the 1960s, participation in federal anti-poverty programs. Correspondents include administrators of CBGC, particularly John H. Witter, Irving Rudolph, Joseph N. Clemens, and Fred Lickerman; Boy's Clubs of America and other national and professional organizations with which the staff was associated; and many Chicagoans who have been CBGC supporters, including Ralph A. Bard, the Crane family, William H. Regnery, William M. Spencer, W. Clement Stone (president of the CBC in the 1960s), and Robert E. Wood.
    • The neighborhood clubs have been particularly active in several Chicago communities: Near West Side, Lower West Side, South Lawndale, East Garfield Park, Bridgeport, Woodlawn, Avondale, Logan Square, Lincoln Park, and Uptown. The constituency of the clubs reflected neighborhood population changes, including youths from white, immigrant and ethnic groups in the early years and beginning in the late 1940s, more Latino and African American youths. Also present are materials on the Off-the-Streets Club (1960s), which was not one of the CBC's clubs.
  • Acquisition information Most of the collection was a gift of the Chicago Boys Clubs beginning in 1974 (M1974.0011).
  • Location of Other Archival Materials Note Related materials at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, include the Chicago Boys Clubs photograph collection, Part 1 (1980.0286) and the Chicago Boys Clubs photograph collection, Part 2 (1981.0059).
  • Biographical or Historical Note Non-profit youth recreation organization; founded 1901 as Chicago Boys Clubs; Black and Latino membership began increasing in late 1940s; participated in federal anti-poverty programs in the 1960s. The Chicago Boys Clubs changed its name ca. 1985 to Chicago Boys and Girls Club to reflect the fact that the organization had long included programs for girls as well as boys, and ca. 1989 changed its name to Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago.
  • Finding Aids Note Descriptive inventory available for a portion of the collection.
  • Names
    • Chicago Boys Clubs Archives.
    • Chicago Boys and Girls Club Archives.
    • Camp Lucerne (Warsaw, Ind.)
    • Kemah-Crane Camp (Williams Bay, Wis.)
    • Winona Lake Camp (Winona Lake, Ind.)
    • Bard, Ralph Austin, 1884?-1975.
    • Clements, Joseph N.
    • Lickerman, Fred C.
    • Regnery, William Henry, 1877-1954.
    • Rudolph, Irving, d. 1964.
    • Spencer, William Marvin, 1892-1984.
    • Stone, W. Clement, 1902-2002.
    • Witter, John H.
    • Wood, Robert E. (Robert Elkington), 1879-1969.
    • Chicago Area Project.
    • Chicago Boys Clubs.
    • Chicago Boys and Girls Club.
    • Chicago Council of Social Agencies.
    • Council of the Southern Mountains. Chicago Chapter. Especially box 187.
    • Off the Street Club (Chicago, Ill.)
    • Welfare Council of Metropolitan Chicago.
    • YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago.
    • Young Men's Christian Association (Chicago, Ill.)
  • Subjects
    • African American youth Illinois Chicago 20th century.
    • Boys Recreation.
    • Boys Illinois Chicago Societies and clubs.
    • Camping Indiana.
    • Camping Wisconsin Williams Bay.
    • Charities Illinois Chicago 20th century.
    • Fund raising Illinois Chicago 20th century.
    • Gangs Illinois Chicago 20th century.
    • Girls Recreation.
    • Girls Illinois Chicago Societies and clubs.
    • Hispanic American youth Illinois Chicago 20th century.
    • Minorities Services for Illinois Chicago.
    • Social group work Illinois Chicago 20th century.
    • Youth Recreation.
    • Youth Illinois Chicago Societies and clubs.
  • Geographic coverage
    • Chicago (Ill.) Social conditions 20th century.
    • Avondale (Chicago, Ill.)
    • Bridgeport (Chicago, Ill.)
    • East Garfield Park (Chicago, Ill)
    • Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill. : Community area)
    • Logan Square (Chicago, Ill.)
    • Lower West Side (Chicago, Ill.)
    • Near West Side (Chicago, Ill.)
    • South Lawndale (Chicago, Ill.)
    • Uptown (Chicago, Ill.)
    • Woodlawn (Chicago, Ill.)
  • Genre
    • Announcements. aat
    • Correspondence. aat
    • Financial records. aat
    • Maps. aat
    • Minutes. aat
    • Newspaper clippings. aat
    • Phonograph records. aat
    • Reports. aat
  • Geographic name United States Illinois Cook County Chicago.